Fostering Creativity in Higher Education Institutions: A Consulting Model

This project presents a consulting model to approach higher education institutions for the design, development, and implementation curricula, programs and academic resources about teaching creativity, teaching creatively and creative learning. This project also presents a portfolio of products and services for the consulting model. In spite of the valuable theoretical developments on how to improve education through creativity, there is still a lack of implantation of those theories. There is an opportunity is to bring creativity knowledge and training to higher education institutions through creative educational approaches. This project aims to implement educational and creativity theories into educational environments

Robots Are Not All the Same: Young Adults' Expectations, Attitudes, and Mental Attribution to Two Humanoid Social Robots

The human physical resemblance of humanoid social robots (HRSs) has proven to be particularly effective in interactions with humans in different contexts. In particular, two main factors affect the quality of human-robot interaction, the physical appearance and the behaviors performed by the robot. In this study, we examined the psychological effect of two HRSs, NAO and Pepper. Although some studies have shown that these two robots are very similar in terms of the human likeness, other evidence has shown some differences in their design affecting different psychological elements of the human partner. The present study aims to analyze the variability of the attributions of mental states (AMS), expectations of robotic development and negative attitudes as a function of the physical appearance of two HRSs after observing a real interaction with a human (an experimenter). For this purpose, two groups of young adults were recruited, one for the NAO

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations

Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data from university samples in 62 countries across 13 world regions (N = 33,417), we demonstrate: (1) the psychometric isomorphism of the PMB (i.e., its comparability in meaning and statistical properties across the individual and country levels); (2) the PMB’s distinctness from, and associations with, ambivalent sexism and ambivalence toward men; and (3) associations of the PMB with nation-level gender equality and human development. Findings are discussed in terms of their statistical and theoretical implications for understanding widely-held beliefs about the precariousness of the male gender role

Nutraceuticals for blood pressure control in patients with high-normal or grade 1 hypertension.

Background: Current hypertension management guidelines do not recommend drug treatment in subjects with blood pressure (BP) in the high-normal range due to the risk of side effects of the currently available antihypertensive agents that overcomes the possible benefit. Nutraceuticals are free from relevant side effects and could be a valuable strategy for the treatment of these patients. Aim: The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of two nutraceutical compositions given by the combination of policosanol, red yeast rice extract, berberine, folic acid and coenzyme Q(10) with or without Orthosiphon stamineus in lowering the BP and lipid profile. Methods: Thirty patients with grade 1 essential hypertension and low cardiovascular risk were analysed. At the end of a run-in period, patients were divided into two study arms and assigned to receive the nutraceutical combination with and without Orthosiphon stamineus. All participants underwent 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring at the end of the run-in period and of the 4-week treatment with each of the two different nutraceutical combinations. Results: In patients treated with Orthosiphon stamineus a significant reduction of mean 24-hour systolic and diastolic BP levels compared with baseline values was registered and the smoothness index calculated for systolic and diastolic BP showed a more reliable and homogeneous effect on BP over 24 hours. In contrast, nutraceutical treatment without Orthosiphon stamineus was not associated with a significant reduction of BP. Conclusions: Our results show that the addition of Orthosiphon stamineus to the combination of nutraceuticals confers an antihypertensive effect that allows a surprisingly effective 24-hour BP control in hypertensive patients

Adsorption of Human Plasma Albumin and Fibronectin onto Nanostructured Black Silicon Surfaces

The protein adsorption of two human plasma proteinsalbumin (Alb) and fibronectin (Fn)onto synthetic nanostructured bactericidal materialblack silicon (bSi) surfaces (that contain an array of nanopillars) and silicon wafer (nonstructured) surfaceswas investigated. The adsorption behavior of Alb and Fn onto two types of substrata was studied using a combination of complementary analytical techniques. A two-step Alb adsorption mechanism onto the bSi surface has been proposed. At low bulk concentrations (below 40 μg/mL), the Alb preferentially adsorbed at the base of the nanopillars. At higher bulk concentrations, the Alb adsorbed on the top of the nanopillars. In the case of Fn, the protein preferentially adsorbed on the top of the nanopillars, irrespective of its bulk concentration

The Neanderthal in the karst. First dating, morphometric, and paleogenetic data on the fossil skeleton from Altamura (Italy)

In 1993, a fossil hominin skeleton was discovered in the karst caves of Lamalunga, near Altamura, in southern Italy. Despite the fact that this specimen represents one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe, for the last two decades our knowledge of it has been based purely on the documented on-site observations. Recently, the retrieval from the cave of a fragment of bone (part of the right scapula) allowed the first dating of the individual, the quantitative analysis of a diagnostic morphological feature, and a preliminary paleogenetic characterization of this hominin skeleton from Altamura. Overall, the results concur in indicating that it belongs to the hypodigm of Homo neanderthalensis, with some phenetic peculiarities that appear consistent with a chronology ranging from 172 +/- 15 ka to 130.1 +/- 1.9 ka. Thus, the skeleton from Altamura represents the most ancient Neanderthal from which endogenous DNA has ever been extracted